Advice requested on damage incident

[KSMooniac]

Of all the ways to hit a Mooney, this might be the least bad! I suspect the steel cage took the brunt of the side load, and you might not find any airframe damage beyond the cowl issues you noted. I would certainly get the cowl off, get it on jacks, swing the gear, etc and inspect thoroughly. Get the belly off while inspecting the gear system too. Look for rivet issues near the impact site as well.

Good luck

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[carusoam]

9 hours ago, LBM said:

Question:  if there is concern about possible damage to the nose gear would that include increased risk of mishap during landing on a ferry flight?  Not just gear collapse, if anything is bent does that make LOC on rollout a concern?

You might post your own answer at the end…

People will quickly register their thoughts…

 

If you are familiar with worn steering horns and how they cause the 8 sec ride… aka bull ride.

You can imagine how bent and broken parts can affect the ride….

Its highly unlikely anything got damaged beyond skin deep…

But who would want to be the pilot to fly it somewhere to find out it was a bad decision to fly?

 

Aviation is 9/10ths common sense… 

and 1/10th finding the guy with the right common sense….

Go MS!

Best regards,

-a-

[Pinecone]

12 hours ago, Shadrach said:

Oil filled coil? This must have happened to an “interesting” car and not a daily driver.

All coils in the distributor based cars were filled with oil.  Most people never knew that as they never had a hole in one.

 

[carusoam]

1 hour ago, Pinecone said:

All coils in the distributor based cars were filled with oil.  Most people never knew that as they never had a hole in one.

 

Would that be like transformer oils with PCBs?

I don’t think I ever swapped out a coil in 40 years of car ownership… I have only owned a few cars… and they 100 -200k miles before retiring… 

They must have designed them pretty well…

Best regards,

-a-

[Shadrach]

6 hours ago, Pinecone said:

All coils in the distributor based cars were filled with oil.  Most people never knew that as they never had a hole in one.

 

Most of the coils installed on cars today are epoxy filled, so I assumed we were talking about something over ten years old.

[Pinecone]

Yeah, this was a 1985 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z.

Yeah, the old coil just kept working.

Until you ground a hole in one.

 

[chriscalandro]

11 hours ago, KSMooniac said:

Of all the ways to hit a Mooney, this might be the least bad! I suspect the steel cage took the brunt of the side load, and you might not find any airframe damage beyond the cowl issues you noted. I would certainly get the cowl off, get it on jacks, swing the gear, etc and inspect thoroughly. Get the belly off while inspecting the gear system too. Look for rivet issues near the impact site as well.

Good luck

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk
 

There is no steel cage under the cowling. And the gear components would have taken the majority of the force as the wheel is the only ground contact point. 

[David Lloyd]

In the second picture, the rear of the car appears to be against the fiberglass cowling.  The bumper of the car is pushed in, probably by the corner of the fuselage just in front of the wing.  Likely the engine cowling flexed quite a bit and the valve covers, engine and engine mount got the force of the impact.  If that is the case, I would want my insurance helping decide what inspections need to be done and by who.

[Bravoman]

Cole Aviation is not that far away. If it were me, I would call Joe to determine the best way of getting the plane to his shop so that the inspection and repairs can be done correctly. In my opinion, having the repairs done properly at a respected MSC will also help the provenance of the aircraft after an incident like this. Joe is a pilot, and he also sometimes travels to AOG aircraft.

[ArtVandelay]

In the second picture, the rear of the car appears to be against the fiberglass cowling.  The bumper of the car is pushed in, probably by the corner of the fuselage just in front of the wing.  Likely the engine cowling flexed quite a bit and the valve covers, engine and engine mount got the force of the impact.  If that is the case, I would want my insurance helping decide what inspections need to be done and by who.

I’d expect the fiberglass would have cracked if it took the impact, so I think the firewall absorb it (ie the steel cage) which is probably best case.
I wonder if they would have even told you if you weren’t there?

[Yetti]

I would.  Put on jacks swing the gear.  Check the props for nicks evidence of being hit.   Since it turned in direction it is supposed to should not be an issue.    Check the cowl.  Check the attachment points for the cowl for stress.   If there is none then the plane moving absorbed the impact.  Check the tire for flat spot.   Don't have any letters behind my name, but still responsible for the maintenance for an airplane.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, chriscalandro said:

There is no steel cage under the cowling. And the gear components would have taken the majority of the force as the wheel is the only ground contact point. 

Precisely, the tubular structure is several inches inside the sheet metal sides, so the sheet metal likely took the impact. Further disassembly, removal of the interior, removal of the engine cowls, jacking and inspecting the gear will be required.

Clarence

[whiskytango]

1 hour ago, M20Doc said:

Precisely, the tubular structure is several inches inside the sheet metal sides, so the sheet metal likely took the impact. Further disassembly, removal of the interior, removal of the engine cowls, jacking and inspecting the gear will be required.

Clarence

Even before I had a chance to mention it, the DOM at the shop on the field said that he wanted to put it on jacks, do multiple retraction checks, and inspect the gear mechanism in detail, so we are thinking alike.  Thanks for the additional suggestions @M20Doc.  I will make sure they are done.

[Fly Boomer]

On 7/28/2022 at 4:56 PM, M20Doc said:

the tubular structure is several inches inside the sheet metal sides

What's in there between the sheet metal and the tubing?

[jetdriven]

last I heard the sheet metal was riveted to angle aluminum sections which were screwed to the tubing.

[KSMooniac]

Here is the inside of that area. It would be worth pulling that interior panel to check this area and see if the angle is damaged. I doubt that tubes would be damaged but would want to look closely. There is a tube running across the floor/firewall joint that would react a push from the side easily.

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[chriscalandro]

13 hours ago, KSMooniac said:

Here is the inside of that area. It would be worth pulling that interior panel to check this area and see if the angle is damaged. I doubt that tubes would be damaged but would want to look closely. There is a tube running across the floor/firewall joint that would react a push from the side easily.

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Judging from this picture, an impact might be the least of your worries. 
 

that also is NOT behind the cowling as described in the original post. Again, there is no steel cage behind the cowling, and that is NOT a picture of the area. 

Edited August 2, 2022 by chriscalandro

[PeteMc]

Actually, there's a really good Mooney Mechanic (MSC) out of N87, NJ but happens to have a place in GA and flies down there all the time.  Bet you could convince him to do a quick consulting job to determine if your local shop can do it or if you should go to a MSC.  A number of the northeast Mooney owners use him (many are here).

Dave Mathiesen  Air Mods & Repair  609-259-2400

[whiskytango]

14 minutes ago, PeteMc said:

Actually, there's a really good Mooney Mechanic (MSC) out of N87, NJ but happens to have a place in GA and flies down there all the time.  Bet you could convince him to do a quick consulting job to determine if your local shop can do it or if you should go to a MSC.  A number of the northeast Mooney owners use him (many are here).

Dave Mathiesen  Air Mods & Repair  609-259-2400

I know Dave.  Bought my C model from him a number of years ago. I didn't know he had a place in GA.  Thanks @PeteMc

[KSMooniac]

Judging from this picture, an impact might be the least of your worries. 
 
that also is NOT behind the cowling as described in the original post. Again, there is no steel cage behind the cowling, and that is NOT a picture of the area. 

The pic above shows the driver side of the bumper in contact with the fuselage, aft of the cowl, in the vicinity of my pic. That is probably why the nose translated laterally. I'm curious to read the results of an inspection.

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[whiskytango]

I plan on going to the shop to photo-document the damage once I get the call that they have completed the inspection.